2 At County Jail Won't Appeal Firings After Cocaine Investigation

An Orange County Jail guard arrested for possession of cocaine last month and the officer whose car he was in have been fired.

Daniel Gralton, 23, and Jay H. Polk, 24, chose not to appeal their June 27 dismissals, according to a sheriff's office internal investigation released Thursday.

Gralton and Polk worked at the jail annex at the Municipal Justice Building in Orlando when Gralton was arrested June 1 in the parking lot outside J.J. Whispers nightclub, 904 Lee Road.

A deputy sheriff patrolling the parking lot in plain clothes said he saw Gralton in a car with two women snorting cocaine about 11:45 p.m. The car belonged to Polk, who was inside the nightclub at the time, according to reports.

Gralton faces criminal charges.

Arrest reports said that Deputy David Cordrey, patrolling the area because of problems with burglaries and drug use in the parking lot, became suspicious of activity inside the car. When he walked by the driver's side window of the car, he saw a mirror with lines of cocaine on Gralton's lap.

Cordrey ordered the three out of the car and called for other deputies. The three were arrested, and Gralton immediately identified himself as a jail guard.

Gralton allowed deputies to search the car. They found a plastic bag containing less than 2 grams of cocaine under the front seat, reports said.

At the time, Polk denied knowing what Gralton and the two women were doing. Two days later, during the internal investigation, Polk again denied knowing anything about the cocaine. But when a urine test for cocaine proved positive, he admitted having snorted two lines with Gralton before going into the bar.

Polk and Gralton told investigators they went to the bar about 11 p.m. where the two women, another guard and a fourth man joined them.

The other guard, Richard Connolly, came to the bar separately and did not know Polk and Gralton had cocaine, the internal report said.

About 11:30, Gralton said, he borrowed Polk's keys and went with the two women to the car. He admitted snorting two lines there.

Gralton had been a guard since May 9, 1983. Polk was hired Oct. 22, 1984.